CompassAir Web Basic User Guide
This guide is intended to serve as an introduction to CompassAir (web version). It is one of a series that show the many useful features of CompassAir (web version).
Where it is felt that additional training would be beneficial, bespoke packages can be provided for both individual users as well as groups. Please contact solutions@thinkcompass.io for more information.
Index
1 CompassAir Messages Window (Home)
2 CompassAir Settings – General
3 Message Overview
4 Message Views
5 Composing Messages
6 Searching and Filtering Messages
7 Message Templates
8 Contacts Overview
9 Document Folders and the Filing Tray
10 Circulars
11 Calendar
12 Notifications (alerts when sending/receiving messages)
13 Discussions
14 Translation
1. Access to CompassAir settings is available from the dropdown menu, under the user name. The menu also shows the number of current connections to the account (i.e. web, IOS and/or Android) with the option to end each by clicking on it and then selecting “Terminate”.
2. By clicking on the appropriate item in the list, the related settings are made available for customisation.
3. Any changes made to an individual setting are automatically saved and synchronised across all connections where applicable (i.e. IOS, Android and web).
1. In order to write a new message, select the red “Compose” button from the left hand toolbar (for next steps see 5 below)
2. To read a message, select a particular View (see 4 below) and then click on it to see in the Message List all messages within that View
3. Clicking on an individual message displays the content of that message within the Viewing Pane. Having highlighted a message, the user can navigate up and down the list using the
space bar (whether up or down is chosen via Settings/Messages/Browse – see 2 above)
4. The message Viewing Pane displays both the message header and a preview of the text
5. To each message can be added Keywords, Vessel Names, Fixtures and Deal information for future reference
6. As each recipient opens the message their initials are displayed in the message header in alphabetical order
7. Each recipient can mark a message as processed, read/unread, as well as flag (user or all) and/or print it (also using ctrl+P). The message can also be viewed in a new window, if preferred
8. The initials of the last user who “processed” the message, i.e. added keywords, vessel name, replied etc. are displayed. Where there are numerous “processors” each can be seen in the message audit trail, accessible from “i” in the message header
9. By clicking on “…”, the selected message can be attached to a new message, marked as spam or deleted
10. For future reference, a unique serial number is allocated to every message, both sent and received
11. Reply, reply all or forward from the dropdown menu
12. When filed, the name of the folder is displayed. Deleting that same folder “keyword” removes the message from that folder
1. The System Administrator will, in advance, allow each user access to departmental and individual addresses for which they have been authorised as well as apply any restrictions (such as “Cannot Send”). The associated messages are then available in customisable Views. Customisation can be by sent/received, read/unread as well as by mailbox, whether flagged etc
2. After Views have been created, by clicking “More”, particular Views (i.e. a user’s favourites) can be selected/filtered for display. This is achieved by toggling each one, on or off. Their order can also be changed by dragging each up or down
3. New Views can be created using the drop down selections pane, starting by editing an existing View and then saving it with a new name. Each is defined by preferred characteristics such as sender, keywords, etc and, for ease of reference, can be colour coded
1. When composing messages, a user can choose from whichever addresses (mailboxes) have been made available by the System Administrator (e.g. “Chartering” department) from the drop down menu
2. Options include delivery and/or read receipts, each from the dropdown menu (effective only if the recipient allows this in their own settings)
3. Messages can be sent as either HTML or Plain Text, via external mail or kept internal to the organisation
4. Messages can be created within a new window if preferred, and/or printed (also using ctrl+P)
5. In addition to a range of formatting options, images can be inserted from files, tables created, links added and colours of text and background changed
6. Keywords, Vessel names and Deal details can be associated with each message for future reference and ease of searching (none of which are visible to the recipient)
7. Hovering over a recipient in the message editor allows the option to copy the email address to the clipboard
8. “Circulars” inserts a pre-prepared list of bcc recipients (see 10 CIRCULARS)
9. Documents can be inserted from Google Drive or DropBox and message signatures added if required
10. The completed message can be sent either immediately or its despatch delayed, the default timing being selected from Settings
1. Within a selected View, messages can quickly be filtered by read or unread, incoming or outgoing, with or without attachments, as well as flagged or unflagged
2. At the same time, a quick search can be made within a selected View
3. If required, more comprehensive searches are available, i.e. covering all Views, in either a quick or advanced form
4. For advanced searches, additional parameters are available such as Keywords, Vessel Names and Fixture details, thereby refining the search. Searches can also be made in other than the regular message Views, for example, in Spam and Drafts. (Note that more search parameters are available than shown in the image, accessible by scrolling down the list). To save the search, click on the disc drop down menu (next to “New Search”), a window appears into which you enter the name of your search. It is then saved in views and can be edited or deleted in the normal way (see 4 above)
5. Using the drop down menu, it is possible to search on from, to, cc or bcc
6. Searches can contain multiple keywords. To enter more than one keyword they should be separated by use of a semi-colon, “;”
7. For a text search, the words that have been found are highlighted in the body of the message
8. The search logic is such that the letters a user types results in suggestions that contain those letters rather than start with those letters
1. When composing a message, a drop down menu provides for the current message to be saved as a Template for future use, if required (also available using ctrl+S)
2. All Templates are filed in a separate View that can be searched and filtered in the same way as all other Views
3. Having identified the appropriate Template, by clicking “Use”, it then becomes a draft message to be edited in the same way as in 5 above
4. Template Views can be customised in the same way as other Views, see 6 SEARCHING AND FILTERING MESSAGES above
5. All templates created in a particular mailbox will be visible to all users of that mailbox, for example, all created using chartering@abc.com will be accessible by everyone who has access to that mailbox
1. Contacts can be found either through a quick or advanced search (via a drop down search box)
2. Having clicked on the Contact, information that has already been saved for that Contact is displayed in the viewing pane
3. Each Contact can be edited or deleted by a user
4. Previous messages to or from that Contact together with any associated documents are accessible quickly from the menu bar
5. Where an organisation has numerous contacts, these are displayed in the right hand pane. By clicking on a name, the relevant contact details are then displayed in the viewing pane
1. Folders containing filed messages can be accessed from the Filing Tray on the main Messages screen. After the System Administrator has allowed a user access to root folders (none of which cannot be edited by users), subfolders can be added, as well as renamed or deleted.
2. Filed documents ( but not messages) are viewed via the “Documents” button
3. Documents can be added directly to folders by clicking on “add”. Existing documents can also be edited or deleted
4. Files can also be saved from elsewhere, for example
(a) Attachments to messages can either be dragged or saved to folders
(b) Individual messages can be dragged to folders from the message list within “Messages”
1. When composing a message there is an option to bcc recipients from a pre-prepared circular list (see 5 point 8 above)
2. Pre-prepared lists of addresses to be bcc’d are viewed either by typing in the search box or alternatively by scrolling, and then selecting one from the alphabetical list
3. New circular lists are created by clicking on “+ New Circular” and then adding recipients from a new window that displays the user’s address book. This can then be searched, with selected addresses being saved to the circular
4. A user can edit existing circular lists by either deleting or adding new addresses, selected as from the drop down list access by clicking on the three dots
1. The Calendar is accessed from the Toolbar and can be viewed by day, week or month
2. In this example we are organising an internal sales meeting (also available are Events and Appointments) to then be held each week. Start by highlighting the day on which the first meeting will be held, then click on the red button
3. Enter the subject of the meeting, its location, the start time and duration. Information about the meeting can be added in the message box
4. The recurrence can then be set. In this case the meeting is to be held on 14 February and then every Thursday thereafter
5. Attendees are then selected – “Employee” when internal, “Email” when external. After Optional or Required attendance is selected and the meeting saved (“Save” becomes “Send”), a message is sent to each invitee (and internal message for internal, an email for external) together with any accompanying message (see 3 above) and the options to respond with Yes, Maybe or No
6. Other options include setting alarms, colour coding and marking appointments as free, busy, out of the office or tentative
1. If a user needs to know when a reply arrives in response to an email they are sending, a notification can be set up using the “Options” drop down mention when composing the message. Providing “Show notifications” has been ticked under your phone’s Application Settings for CompassAir, and CompassAir is running minimised, a pop-up message will appear on your phone upon receipt
2. Alternatively, if the message has already been sent, the same option appears in the drop down menu that appears after clicking the ellipsis at the top right hand corner of the message
3. If the same option is selected as for 2 above for an incoming message, a pop up notification will again appear on your phone when a reply is sent from within your own organisation (i.e. from mailbox that you share). If a reply is sent by the user who selected the “Notify Me” on the incoming message, then a notification will not be generated
1. Notifications can also be turned on for all or selected emails by setting up a new rule (see volume 5, section 3).
2. Choose for which message box(es) notifications are required (this can be all or any for which you have access) together with any other parameters you require to customise the alerts.
3. At stage 3 toggle on “Raise Alert”, selecting yourself.
4. The next step, stage 4, allows the option to use the rule for a defined period. For notifications required going forward the default starts with today’s date. Once set, the rule is summarised with the option either to edit or save.
5. As with other rules, notifications can be suspended without deleting the rule, achieved by toggling the completed rule from “Active” to “Inactive”.
1. Discussions is a chat-like feature that enables users with access to a shared mailbox (in this example “Solutions”) to communicate between each other with respect to emails that appear in that inbox. Discussions are not applicable to emails sent from a single, or private email address – they only apply to shared emails. As an example, if a user were to send an email from their own address, copying it to a shared mailbox, only the email received into the shared mailbox can have discussions attached to it. To commence a discussion, view or add to an existing discussion, click on the speech balloon.
2. Emails with Discussions have a speech balloon icon displayed next to the message as it appears in the message list.
3. Inserting an “@” in a discussion reveals a drop down menu showing the names of users with access to the shared mailbox in which the email appears. Selecting a user will send an alert to that individual, notifying them that they have been mentioned in a Discussion.
4. The alert will appear at the top of the user’s message window in red, disappearing once the Discussion has been viewed or after 7 days.
5. As well as being attached to specific emails, discussions, or integrated chat, can take place amongst team members who have access to the same shared inbox, in the example aside the department is Operations. The format will be familiar and is similar to that used by WhatsApp. The feature is accessed from the “Discussions” tab on the side menu bar.
6. As with Discussions attached to emails, inserting an “@” in a discussion reveals a drop down menu showing the names of users with access to the same shared mailbox. Selecting a user will send an alert to that individual, notifying them that they have been mentioned in a Discussion. As before, the alert will appear at the top of the user’s message window in red.
7. In the final example, Tom Smith has been mentioned in a number of discussions and this is brought to his attention via the red alert at the top of the CompassAir home screen. As he has access to both the Chartering and Accounts shared mailboxes, he will also be alerted when these departments are mentioned in discussions. Clicking on a reminder opens that message, together with the associated discussion, in a separate tab.
